JLs Detailing: 08 Corvette

Well while I was at the beach on vacation I got a call from a buddy of mine. I had just detailed his Mustang GT before I left and then he went and traded it in. He told me "Don't worry I need you to detail my new car". I asked him what he bought and he said an Atomic Orange Corvette. He had just taken delivery of it. Well when I got home I went over to see it and man is it a beautiful car. We took it out and man the thing rides 100% better than I ever thought it would. In a word the car is Awesome! Well the car had been driven back from all places Myrtle Beach (where I was on vacation!). Man I could have just brought it back!! Well it had some road grime and of course the cheap solvent based tire dressing was all over the lower panels. Here is some of what I was facing:

Can you say bugs?




Look they brought some sand back from the beach as well.


Gotta love that cheap tire dressing sling!



Well when he brought it to me the next night I got it under my flourescents and the paint looked amazingly good. So I broke out the Brinkman and again the paint looked flawless. I was amazed and as much as we talk about the "dealer induced swirls" this dealership deserves some props for not letting this Vette get any.:thumb: This car belongs to my buddy like I said and it got the royal treatment...only the best of everything I had. Well here's what I did:

Tires/Wheels/Wells: Well I used P21s Wheel Gel on the wheels with an assortment of brushes and such. I used the Griots Wheel Scrub, Black Magic wheel brush bent 90 degrees for getting behind the spokes, and foam finger pocket. The tires and wells got Total Cycle Cleaner and a black Shmitt.

The wheels were then polished with Surf City Killer Chrome polish. It really brought out the shine on the chrome and made a very substantial improvement. The tires were first dressed with Megs Hyper Dressing @ 1:1 with a TW tire applicator cut in half for easy application on the lo profile tires. I then dressed them with the same method with the other half of the TW applicator and Swissvax Pneu. Wells were dressed with CGs Bare Bones.

Exhaust: I used Megs Wheel Brightner first on the exhaust and then polished with P21s Polishing soap. I then polished them with Autosol. This was a great combo and gave a brand new look to the exhaust.

Engine: I gave the engine a quick rinse then sprayed it down with S100 TCC. I agitated it and re-rinsed. I dried most of the water with a leaf blower and then sprayed the engine bay down with Megs HD @ 3:1. I cranked the engine and let it run for about 20 minutes and it turned out great.

Wash: Well if there was anything on the car I wanted it off so I went with the foam cannon with 2 oz of CGs Citrus Wash Clear and 1 oz of CGs Strong Wash. I used a Zymol Sponge and man did I like that thing. The grout sponge is great but this thing is the best. Since the paint was in such great shape I wanted it to stay that way and this Zymol Sponge and the rinse bucket gave me peace of mind that I wouldn't induce any swirls. The many many many bugs got CGs Strong Wash @ 3:1 and a Majestic Solutions bug sponge. Well this combo as usual knocked the bugs out with no problem. It makes the job so much easier. The entire wash including wheels and engine were done with the CR Spotless System. Nice knowing mother nature and the NC sun can dry the car all it wants and I don't have to worry about water spots!:applause2:

Clay: I used Riccardo Clay and DP 4n1 clay Lube in a Solo 418 sprayer. After claying I re-rinsed with the CR. I did dry the remaining water with a leaf blower to make sure every inch was dry.

Glass: Outside glass got DG 501 via the Metabo while I was polishing/cleaning the paint. Inside glass got CGs Glass Cleaner via a glass MF and dried with an eShine Dehydrator.

Interior: The interior was in pretty good shape just a lot of smudges on the door panels and the radio/nav screen center. The interior almost looked grayish even though it was suppose to be black. I used CGs Silk Shine on everything but the carbon fiber center with the nav screen and radio and climate controls. On that I used 1z Cockpit Premium. I gave the interior a good vac with the shop vac and treated the leather with 1z Leather Care Lederpflege. I really really like this product as it cleans and conditions and leaves the leather looking so great and natural.

Paint: Well after talking with Deep Gloss and telling him how great the paint looked we decided on Menzerna 85rd. I used the Metabo with a black 3M waffle pad. The idea was to burnish out the paint and amp the gloss while removing any very minor imperfections that may be lurking. Well it worked and the flake in the Atomic Orange was just popping! Great call Deep Gloss!:thumb: Well after the 85rd I wanted to still make sure the paint was super clean so I used CGs Vertua-Bond 400. I applied via a polishing pal and a white 3" pad. I wanted the bonding agent there too for the Jetseal that was up next. I buffed everything off with a the CGs 530XL MFs. Love these MFs.

Protection: I used Jetseal since I was going to be topping with a nuba. It was applied with a CGs Stage 3 Applicator and buffed off with a 530xl MF.

LSP: Well I was able to buy a small amount of Zymol Vintage and it was going on this car! I applied it with a polishing pal and a LC CCS red 4" pad. I used the hair dryer method to heat up the pad and then applied the Vintage. I really like this wax and love how soft it is. It went on great and I left it on for about an hour and buffed it off to an amazing shine, depth, glow, and wetness. Before the owner came and picked it up I hit it with Zymol Field Glaze.

Well here are the pics and there are a lot of them:

Before and Afters:






































Random and Reflection pics:

 

Not a big Corvette fan but that color is awesome on that car. Great work!

 

The car looks incredible!

 

JL..only you could improve a brand new car so much!! There are some fantastic shots there too! I love the close up of the flake! He might need a RADAR detector though..those bugs looked like they were smeared at a high speed, LOL.

Oh, and by the way, do you remember the one about "what was the last thing that went through the bug's mind as it hit the windshield"??:giggle::giggle:

 

That some awesome work JL! The color of the car really came to life. Did you end up using all the vintage you got ahold of?

 

Thats the first time I have heard someone give props to a dealership for their work:yikes:



The color isnt my favorite but it does look good with Vintage on it. Nice work as usuall :thumb:

 

NICE WORK JL!!!

Detailing new cars is a total different ball game (wouldn't you agree?) and you really stepped up to the plate...

Making a new car look better is not as easy as a resurection....

The paint really came to life!

Great work!

 

Amazing work!

 

Wow what a colour, I too am not a big fan of Vett's to be honest but boy it sure is hard to ignore that colour and I mean that in a good way too.

The colour looks great though, deep and wet :thumb:

Another great job done, well done :worship2:

 

Great work JL.

 

saweeet detail!

 

WOW! Amazing work on my favorite Corvette color! Even though it didn't look that dirty in the befores, the afters are a HUGE turnaround!!!

 

Awesoem job, that is a great color

 

Looks amazing! I love that color.

 

What, no Sonax wheel cleaner? j/k

Some nice shine and reflection to that paint.

 

Very nice work JL! The car looks GREAT now. I saw the house on the other side of the road was for sale, are they finished? Price??

You should try S40 for burnishing and finishing one time, glass paint

 

Nice work JL, that colour looks great, a nice glow to it indeed.

 

Very Nice JL, thanks for taking so long to post this-lol. So you went with 85rd over UF on this. Did you see any diffierence between the two with this color.

 

Great job JL!! Where were you able to pick up Autosol? That seems like a go to metal polish.

 

Oh when we went out on it when I got back from vacation I assure you many a bug was killed at a very high rate of speed, LOL. Thanks for the compliments richy. When I saw the paint I wasn't sure that it would get a lot better but it did.

Thanks. The color is my favorite Vette color and it just jumps at you. I actually still have some Vintage left.

Like I said I have to give them props because aside from a very few slight imperfections the paint was in amazing shape. I'm not even sure which dealership it was since it didn't have any of those hideous dealership badges on it.

Yes its quite different as you know off the bat that you have to really work to improve the look as opposed to the resurections I usually get. It was sooooo nice to get an easy interior though. I love those.

Thanks:headbang:

Thanks Nica like I said my favorite Vette color and I got to do it on my first Vette.

Thanks Dan. Oh I practiced on capturing the paint imperfections with the camera. Your advice helped even though there were not many imperfections to capture.

Thanks:headbang:

Thanks Piet. Other than the real road grime and bugs it wasn't very dirty because it was only a few days old when I got it.

Thanks:headbang:

Much appreciated, Thanks!

If the wheels had been in much worse shape I would have used the Sonax but figured the P21s could handle it this time. Thanks for the compliments and I loved the reflection too.

Pirex the house is almost finished and I think he is asking right around $400K for it. I was really debating between 3M UF and Scholl S40. I decided to give 85rd another try since I haven't used it in a long while. I still think I like the other two a little better because of the ease of use. I get no dust from the others and with the 85rd I had to get a can of compressed air to get all the dust out of everywhere. Man I hate that. The 85rd did give it a shine though.

Thanks Ben!

Yeah I know I'm so slow!! I have another detail to post up too...An Evo. That one will be up soon. The 85rd does give it a killer shine but I still think I like the 3M UF and Scholl S40 better.